eSpecially Ben

For the past three years, Ben has been on the bus with the same brother and sister. Since they get on before Ben and after he gets off, I see them twice a day and have become friendly with them. About two years ago, we had them over for a playdate. Their Dad came too. Ryan and I learned about their tough circumstances. In the short time we spent with this family, it became obvious that the Dad worked hard to make their situation work. Although I tried many times to get the kids together again, it never worked out. Over a year later, on Halloween, the Dad stopped by our house. To ask for a relatively small amount of money. I gave it to him and asked that instead of repaying us, he bring the kids over for a playdate. He agreed and they came the next week. Then six months later, the Dad stopped by to borrow a tool for a job. We gave it to him. Today he came by and left us a note explaining that he was going out of town. I guess he was letting us know he still had the tool and

Our neighborhood recently won an energy grant . While some of the money went to weatherproof homes, our neighborhood association, in keeping with our art theme, had 7 bicycle racks made for the the most frequented locations in the 'hood. Each were designed by artists and then painted at a special public event called, Pimp My Rack. Everyone was asked to help paint this dog, a bicycle rack doing to, what elese, but our local dog bar. This artist used stippling , basically using special brushes to paint dots all over the sculpture. Many kids added their mark. Our local coffeeshop, Smelly Cat, will boast this very cool cat.

 I mentioned in my original post that we found a new doctor that has adjusted Ethan’s medicine, making his quality of life drastically better. Though, he currently has entered another flare up, Ethan had 35 DAYS fever free with a significant decrease in pain!! Though I am sad that he is not feeling well again and the doctor did tell us he would still have set backs, he has NEVER seen more than 1 day in his 28 months of life without a fever and/or pain! So he is finally making strides and moving in the right direction! His frequent doctor visits and many procedures have FINALLY paid off! Ethan is like a different kid!! Once he felt better he did things physically, cognitively and communicatively he was not able to do before. One day he actually climbed into his booster seat at the table all by himself. Another day he fed himself more than 2 spoonfuls of baby food without spilling. He will only eat certain textured foods and still eats stage 1 baby food due to sensory issues and abdo